4th of July

We had a really fun Fourth of July.  We started with a parade in a nearby town.

  

 The five year old got to ride on a float for his therapeutic horseback riding group.

He's in the tan shirt.  He was very unhappy with being on the float.  He didn't want to go on the float, but I made him do it.  One of his therapists wanted us to try it as a new experience.  It was very overwhelming for him but he finally settled down and rode along just fine.

 The rest of our family, and my sister, brother-in-law and niece were kept busy picking up candy.  They came home with a crazy amount of candy - probably close to 8-10 pounds worth.

Smoky bear was one of the favorites, but the truck siren was really loud.

The boy with all his loot.

My niece was all decked out in red white and blue after receiving a lei, necklace, and flag.

I love that he's wearing his "Energy in Motion" t-shirt.  That was the 4H camp theme.

 We came home will all sorts of goodies :)

And a couple of goofy, tired kids too.

This one asked for a piece of tape, then pretended to be a pirate.

 This is the back of his new shirt he got to ride on the float.

 We had a fairly quiet afternoon at home so the kids could rest, then grilled some steaks and headed to the park to watch the fireworks.  The kids (big ones included) had a great time.

 I changed the setting on my camera to the night lighting setting and got some awesome, fun pictures.  They remind me of the blown glass artwork that was so popular a few years back.